Fire department honors 8-year-old boy killed in blaze

INDIANA COUNTY, Pa. — A funeral service was held Wednesday afternoon for the 8-year-old boy who was killed in an Indiana County fire early Saturday morning.

Michael Collier died in the fire that started around midnight at his mother’s home along Route 286 in Young Township. Collier’s grandmother was also killed in the blaze, and his brother remains hospitalized with burn injuries.

According to Grandview fire chief Bill Long, Collier was a frequent visitor to the fire department where he’d wash trucks with his father and grandfather. Collier had also said he wanted to be a firefighter when he grew up.

“He’d run around, help wash trucks and wanted to know everything about the trucks,” Long said. “You could see he would have been a future volunteer firefighter.”

Because of his love for the fire department, the Grandview Fire Department gave Collier a small sendoff. His casket was inside a fire truck and three other trucks draped in black cloths were parked outside the funeral home.

“We had to honor him because you could just tell in his eyes that he loved this,” Long said. ‘We’re going to miss him, but he’ll never be forgotten.”

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